07/07/17

Having
just celebrated The Fourth – with
friends, food, fireworks, fun, and freedom – a number of memories decided to
pay a visit.Their pleasant
appearance wasn’t quite as startling as local fireworks – but thankfully, still
as bright!

I
have to admit that without younger children in our home these days I’m not up
on current curriculum choices in our schools.You see, I come from a time in our country were certain
school activities were simply a “given” – the Pledge of Allegiance, the singing
of the Star Spangled Banner, classroom prayers, and weekly trips to the local
Episcopal Church for religious instruction.Oh yeah, I almost forgot, we also hid under our desks for
Air Raid Drills!

Channeling
my best Andy Rooney, “I wonder how many kids today actually know who wrote the
Star Spangled Banner – and the war it commemorates?”I’m not sure I want to know – the anticipated answer is
troubling.But for most of us who
grew up with blackboards and cloakrooms we remember that it was Francis Scott
Key; and it was the War of 1812.Along with composing our National Anthem, Mr. Key, a lawyer with a deep
faith, also wrote a number of hymns; some that you may actually know but never
looked at the small print to discover the composer’s name.So, in honor of our National Holiday,
I’ve decided to pass today along one of his more popular hymns as an
encouragement for your life and faith! (here’s a link if you would like to here
the hymn played in one its more familiar tunes: http://hymnary.org/media/fetch/182691 - it may take a second or two to load)

“Lord,
With Glowing Heart I’d Praise Thee

1
Lord, with glowing heart I'd praise thee
for the bliss thy love bestows,
for the pard'ning grace that saves me,
and the peace that from it flows.
Help, O God, my weak endeavor;
this dull soul to rapture raise;
thou must light the flame, or never
can my love be warmed to praise.

CONGRATULATIONS
to Jesse
& Melissa Owens as we celebrate the marriage of their daughter!

Congratulations Kayla Owens & Grant
Esposito

SUNDAY
SCHOOL – we will be
taking a summer break from Sunday School classes and will resume in the Fall

DEACON’S FUND OFFERING – Today, we will be collecting the Deacons’ Fund
Offering for the Mercy Ministries of the Church and community

VBS VOLUNTEERS – Meet today at 1:00pm at the Church to set up
for VBS week.

EXPEDITION
NORWAY VBS – Expedition
Norway VBS begins tomorrow! Join us for VBS week form July 10th–14th
from 9am –noon. Please sign up at
the Welcome Counter. Today
is the last day to register your children!

“Aelen”
woke up one night to the sounds of someone burning her house down. Thankfully,
she was able to grab her baby son and escape. Unfortunately, it was one of many
hardships she’d been forced to face since deciding to leave her tribe’s
traditional religion and follow Jesus instead.

Many in
her village, including her family, perceived the change in her religious
beliefs as an offence to their culture. Many Laotians believe Christianity
is an American religion. When someone in the community becomes a Christian, the
community worries that the spirits they worship will be offended, and that the
community might also suffer ill-effects as a result.

Though
she escaped the attempted arson of her home, Aelen’s problems weren’t yet over.
A little while later, she visited her sister in another city for a while. When
she came home, she found that her father and brother had moved into her home
and were claiming it as their own.

Aelen
went to the local authorities to complain. She then found out that the village
headman had even issued her father a new property deed for her home. Further
lobbying for justice at the local level and even provincial level hasn’t
helped. It looks like Aelen will be forced to leave the village. When she asked
her father how he could do such a thing to her, he told her, “Because you are a
Christian.”

It’s
not just young people who suffer like this.

An
older gentleman, “Keowynn” and his wife and daughter were also recently evicted
from their home, in this case by their own son. Keowynn is a key Christian
leader in his area and he leads a church that he planted many years ago after
he moved to an unreached region as a missionary.

In spite
of Keowynn’s faithful example, his oldest son despises his parents’ faith. He
also drinks and uses drugs. Much like the prodigal son in the Gospel of Luke,
his son demanded his inheritance from his father and said that the house should
be his portion. The conflict between the oldest son and the family has been
ongoing for at least three years, and on March 15, 2017, the son finally forced
his father, mother and sister from the home.

This
is the thatch home Keowynn’s family are living under in the rice field.

Keowynn
and his family are now living under a roof they erected in a rice field. It’s a
tough life, but they don’t want to abandon the other believers in their
community. They are afraid if they leave, the other believers will become too
discouraged and renounce their faith.

Please
pray for both Aelen and Keowynn and their families. Other Christians in Laos
are assisting them, but it’s difficult to lose home and family. Pray that they
and other believers in Laos will stand firm in Christ, no matter what they
encounter.